baetlett



(specimens.)

P. 8v P. B. BARTLETT.

STOGKING AND ART 0F MANUFAGTURING THB-SAME. No. 355,910. Patented Jan. 1l, 1887.

N PE'IRS. Pholn-Lilhngmpher. Wnshingiun, D. CA

Unirse STATES @Artnr Ormea.

PERSONS BARTLET'I A ND FRED B. BAR'ILETT, OF LACONI, N. H.

STOCKING AND ART OF MANUFACTURING THE SAME.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 355,910, dated January 11, 1937.

Application filed August l2, 1886.

.To all whojn, t may concern.-

Be it known that we, PERSONS BARTLETT and FRED B. BARRETT, of Laconia, in the county of Belknap and State of New Hampshire, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Stockings and the Art of Manufacturing the Same, of which the following is a specification.

Our invention relates to stockings and to the mode of manufacturing the same.

It is the object of our invention to produce an improved method of manufacturing a stocking, whereby the same may be expeditiously and cheaply constructed, and the foot portion, particularly, properly shaped vor fashioned to iit the foot of the wearer.

It is also the object of our invention to produce a stocking having an improved st-ructural character.

Our invention consists in the stocking and the improved mode of manufacturing thesarne, hereinafter fully described, so that others skilled in the art may be able to make and use the same, reference being had to the annexed drawings, forming a part of this specication, the invention being particularly set forth in the claims hereunto appended.

Of the drawings, Figure 1 represents the foot portion of our improved stocking after the same leaves the machine, and before the instep or upper and sole portions arejoined together, the course of the stitches in the toe and forward portion of the foot only being shown. Fig. 2 represents a side view of our improved stocking, the upper portion being represented in outline only.

The same letters of reference indicate the same parts and features in both views.

Arepresents the leg, B the heel, G the upper or instep portion of the foot, D the sole portion, and E the toe.

In carrying out our invention we knit the leg, including the ankle portion, as a tubular web, in anysuitable manner, down to the point where it is desired to form the heel B, constructing the latter by the welleknown process of widening and narrowing to knit what is com monly called a bulgeheeh such knitting being preferably done on the same machine as is employed to form the leg A, and without re- Serial No. 210,712. (Specimens.)

moving the web from the machine. This operation will complete the stocking down to the point indicated by the letters a b c. We then remove the web from the machine, which may be supposed to have been of the circular type, and pick the stitches on that portion thereof from the point b over the top of the instep at a to a point corresponding to the 'point b on the opposite side of the stocking onto the flat frames.v Vhen the web has been narrowed to a sufficient extent,it is cast off the needles, leaving the loops f on the ends thereof. We next proceed to pick that portion of the tubular web extending from the pointb around the point c to a point corresponding to b on the opposite side of the stocking onto the same or a similar flat-footer, and knit the sole portion D of the foot as a'flat web, narrowing for the toe portion in a manner substantially the same as that .described with respect to the instep portion O, and casting the completed web off the needles, leaving the loops g.

In picking on the web at the heel for constructing the sole portion D,we prefer not to gatherA any of the loops of the wales together, so as to effect narrowing, as at the points n u at thev junction of the leg and instep portions, as hereinbefore described.

The stocking is completed by crocheting or looping together the loopsfg. at kthe toe, as represented at 7i in Fig. 2, and seaming together in the well-known manner the instep portion C and sole portionD along the line i, when the stocking is boarded7 or otherwise treated, as is common in preparing goods of this class for the trade.

By narrowing the web at the junction of the leg with the upper or instep portion we are enabled to reduce the stock, or gather77 the IOS rIo

2 sessie stitches at the precise point where puckerings77 or undue fullness inthe stocking would occn r when drawn upon the foot of the wearer, if such narrowing were not done at this point.

This method of producing a stocking can be easily and expeditiously practiced, to the end of saving in the cost of manufacturing the stocking. It also results in a stocking shaped or fashioned to iit the foot of the wearer.

Having thus described our invention, we claimA l. The inlprovenient in the art of manufacturing a stocking, which consists in knitting the leg and h eel of the stocking as a tubular web in any known way, then picking the por tion of the Web above the heel, or where the leg is tojoin the instep portion ofthe foot, onto the needles of a knitting-machine, gathering adjacent stitches of the web at suitable intervals upon single needles, knitting thc top or instep portion of the foot and substantially one-half of the toe portion as a tlatweb in any known way, then picking the stitches of said first-mentioned web at the heel onto the needles of aknitting-inachine and knitting the sole portion of the stocking and the remaining portion of the toe as a at web in any known way, and looping and seaining togetheil thc selvages of such iiat webs, as set forth.

2. The improvement in the art of inanufacturing a stocking, which consists in knitting the leg and heel of the stocking as a tubular web in any known way, then picking the por tion of the web above the heel, or where the leg is tojoin the instep portion of the foot, onto the needles of a knitting-machine, gathering adjacent stitches of the web at suitable intervals upon single needles, knitting the top or instep portion of the foot as a flat web, narrowing the saine to forni substantially one-half of the toe, casting ohC the stitches at the end of such web, then picking the stitches of said firstnientioned web at the heel onto the needles of a knitting-niachine, and knitting a liat web substantially like that before described for the instep portion and top of the toe, casting off the stitches at the end of the web last produced, looping together the castot stitches at the end ofthe webs,and uniting their adjacent sclvagcs by seaining, as set forth.

3. A stocking having the leg and heel const-ructed in any suitable manner, with narrowings at intervals along the' line where the instep portion of the foot is joined to the leg portion, the instep and sole portions of the foot being joined together along the sides of the foot by seaining, and the upper and lower end portions of the toe being united by looping the adjacent stitches together, as set forth.

In testimony whereof we have signed our naines to this specification, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses, this 7th day of August, 1886.

PERSONS BARTLETT.

FRED B. BARTLETT.

\Vitnesses JAMES S. STANELL, SUMNER E. BLAcKs'roNE. 

